It is time for GECOM to end this election saga and move the country forward

Aug 02, 2020 Letters

Dear Editor,

The right to free speech is not necessarily the right to be taken seriously. The much vented views of persons like David Hinds, Lincoln Lewis, Vincent Alexander and a few others published in Guyana’s newsprint are all stirring the same pot with different spoons. Their discourse contains three similar ingredients. The first is the election results must be declared using the Chief Election Officer (CEO) Lowenfield’s figures even though those figures do not correspond with the recount figures. In other words, if the CEO concocted his own numbers, they must be used because according to the aforementioned names, Lowenfield is bound by the constitution and only he can determine who won the election even though the Caribbean Court of Justice and the Guyana Court of Appeal have ruled otherwise. The second point as claimed by those individuals is that the PPP rigged the elections using deceased and duplicate votes of migrated persons even though Guyana has one of the strictest election processes, one which is manually operated. And three, the individuals have boldly and barefacedly suggested that the election impasse can be resolved by the President dissolving the elections and announced a date for new elections. The truth is that nowhere in the Constitution does it give the president the power to dissolve an election based on unproven claims by some.

This has been the persistent call by Alexander, Lewis and Hinds. Not to mention the ridiculous, absurd and silly comment by former Prime Minister Hamilton Green who called on President Granger to get rid of the constitution and rule by decree. Although we are cognizant of his apology, we do not believe it, because as the video showed, he was involved in a long diatribe, which could not be deemed a slip of the tongue as he claimed. The most overwhelming point is that Granger and the rigging cabal believed that it has been bequeathed to them by some unknown power, be it the Almighty or Satan, to be the rulers of Guyana. This point has been illustrated vividly in their narrative not to relinquish power under any circumstance.

Hinds writes (July 26 KN) ‘…this would be a prolonged process. I arrived at that conclusion based on my study of elections in ethnically divided societies’. This is a baseless pronouncement by Hinds because no one knows which societies he studied but numerous such societies like fellow CARICOM countries, included the ethnically divided society of Trinidad and Tobago, have declared their election results in a day or two. It is now up to David Hinds to reveal to the public, which ethnically divided societies he has studied that have prolonged their election results for as long as Guyana’s APNU+AFC coalition government has done.

Hinds’ clamour for dialogue is both pathetic and far-fetched. When his Party, which he was a candidate in 2020 won in 2015 by a meager 0.3 percent of the votes cast, he did not see the need for such discourse. Today, however, he is calling for shared governance. I would remind Hinds of the famous proverb which states: “What is good for the Goose is also good for the Gander.” In addition, he should heed the famous words: “Do unto others as you would like them do unto you.”

The Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) defined reason as a ‘faculty of principles’ or the ‘faculty of the unity of the rules of understanding under principles.’ The problem with this kind of reasoning is how to justify these concepts and principles. Kant’s definition of reason is intriguing in that it often leads us into error and contradiction and into the realms of logic and illusion where duty compels one to flawed reasoning as they have amoral obligation only in pursuit of a predetermined goal. Now I must return to Hamilton Green, who I believed has spewed such thought process a week ago with his declaration that President Granger should set aside the Constitution, disregard the rule of law and sworn himself in as president of Guyana in order to safeguard the interest of future generations.

This kind of reasoning and the narrative perpetuated by Hinds, Lewis and Alexander are ill conceived. They are divisive and could set Guyana back for decades. It is time for GECOM to end this election saga, declare the winner and move the country forward.

Yours truly
Leyland Chitlall Roopnaraine